Principles of Acting II Eric Jefferson
Fall 2015
YATES
The Odd Couple
Assignment: Play Reaction
The Odd Couple
The phrase Opposites Attract should be rephrase, and that’s one thing that stuck with me after witnessing the off Broadway hit The Odd Couple (The Female Version written by Neil Simon, Directed by Tammy O’Donnell) in the Queen Anne Theatre which is located on Prince George’s Community College Campus in largo, Maryland on November 23, 2015. Neil Simon female version of the play, The Odd Couple, displayed how giving someone too much support, can sometimes make a bad outcome. One thing I loved about this play, after experiencing it, was the fact how clear the similarities
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and differences were between the two leads, Olive Madison (Destiny Williams) and Florence Unger (Kelley Jackson), relationship throughout the play was truly odd, no pun intended. The dynamic between Olive (Destiny Williams) and her husband was pretty strange, to say the least.
They were together but yet, so far apart. Olive relationship with her husband impacted her in a big way, for example, at the beginning of the play you can tell that Olive doesn’t clean or cook. The reason for that is probably not because she can’t, it’s because she has no reason too. Knowing that her husband left, truly kept her from doing things that reminded her of him. At the beginning of the play, Olive received a phone call from her husband. The phone call was mainly about Olive lending him some money. Within this scene, Olive (Destiny Williams) objective was to not lend her husband any money, her motivation was to stop letting her husband use her.
One of the tactics Olive (Destiny Williams) used while on the phone with her husband was rejecting. Within the same scene, Olive husband asked for money for the second time, Olive replied “No. I’m not going to let you keep doing this to me.” Overall, she eventually lend her husband some money and failed at her objective. The reason she failed was not because she wasn’t using the right tactics but it’s because of her “Super Objective” in which was to be in love and having the feeling that someone want/need
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her. In some scenes throughout the play, it seem as though the actors were over dramatic, for example, in the scene when Olive (Destiny Williams) uppercut Florence (Kelley Jackson) right in the gut. I notice that Destiny didn’t truly hit Kelley that hard in the gut but Kelley reaction was as if Destiny had shot her. I believe the overacting came from Kelley not being able to sell the punch within the scene and only focusing on “how she was going to react?” instead of living truthfully in the moment. While experiencing the play, at times, volume was an issue. For example, in scene one, when all of the ladies were sitting at the table, there was a moment when Vera (Grace Adu-Boahen) said a joke, I forgot what the joke was, not because I wasn’t listening but it was the fact that she said it very low. I guess the joke was very amusing because her castmates laughed at the table but sadly, since I didn’t hear it, I was lost and didn’t understand the dialogue a few moments after because I was still focusing on what the joke was. One of my favorites moments of the play was when Olive and Florence invited the two brothers over for dinner.
At the beginning of that scene, Jesus (Cameron Isaac) gave Olive (Destiny Williams) some chocolate and told her that it was “no good” but what he was trying to say was “nougat”. Not only did I laughed during this scene, but while watching this scene, it trigger a memory of me mispronouncing a word and it was very humorous for the people around me as like Jesus. I believe a lot of people can relate to mispronouncing a word that’s why this scene (by the audience reaction) is one the most favorite because it’s so relatable and personal.
After witnessing the female version of the Odd Couple, I realize that the support that women have for each other only goes so far until it meets a dead end. Also from watching this play, I learned that some women measure their self value on how much their husband want/need them. I’m not sure if measuring your self value on how much a person want/need you is a good thing but looking at Olive and Florence personality traits, lifestyles, and mannerisms, throughout the play, One can see that letting someone be in control of your self value can make a bad or some may say, a very “Odd”,
outcome.
The play that was chosen to be read for the actor’s analysis was, “The Norwegians” which was written by C. Denby Swanson. As there is no specific style for this play, it is known to be categorized as a contemporary comedy as well as a character driven play.
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Psychguide (2016). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Symptoms, Causes and Effects. Retrieved August 20, 2016, from http://psychguides.com
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"Do Opposites Attract Or Do They Push Each Other Away?" Lovepanky Your Guide to Better Love and Relationships Do Opposites Attract Or Do They Push Each Other Away Comments. Lovepanky.com, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
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How Two Shakespearean Couples Resolve Conflict in Their Relationships in A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It
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It is well known that Shakespeare’s comedies contain many marriages, some arranged, some spontaneous. During Queen Elizabeth's time, it was considered foolish to marry for love. However, in Shakespeare’s plays, people often marry for love. With a closer look into two of his most famous plays As You Like It and Twelfth Night or What You Will, I found that while marriages are defined and approached differently in these two plays, Shakespeare’s attitudes toward love in both plays share similarities. The marriages in As You Like It’s conform to social expectation, while the marriages are more rebellious in Twelfth Night. Love, in both plays, was defined as
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Shakespeare is a famous writer of many plays, such as Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy that takes place in Illyria and incorporates several songs throughout the play. Shakespeare normally assigns the singing roles to characters of lower class and minor personalities, such as servants, clowns, rogues and fools. Major characters never usually sing unless they are in disguise or in distracted mental states. In Twelfth Night, the Fool, who is also known as Feste is in charge of all the songs and he uses music to effectively portray the truth and reality beneath all the acting in the play. The songs are not a reflection of him, but are addressed to the protagonists themselves. Through his use of indirect speech and metaphorical